President Biden to push harder with climate reforms, urges China to toughen targets

In his second week in office, US President Joe Biden is looking to reverse many of his predecessor's policies, including taking a tougher stance on climate change and has urged the Chinese government to increase its own emissions targets.

Biden, who last week rejoined the Paris Climate Accord, is set to enact newer policies this week he believes are essential in for the nation to tackle climate change.

Read more: President Joe Biden rejoins Paris Agreement, puts curbs on fossil fuels

The president has urged the Chinese government to enact stricter policies on tackling climate change emissions as the US looks to offer similar policies to its allies in the EU and UK.

White House climate officials have not yet released a memo of policies to expect but memos have revealed Biden hopes to increase domestic focus on tackling the issue, including making climate change a national security priority.

Biden also issued executive orders cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline in Texas which would import tar sands oil from Canada, which has been met with overwhelming negative reception from Republicans.

Activists have called for Biden to also cancel the Dakota Access Pipeline owing to its environmental impact on Native American lands.

John Kerry, Biden's climate envoy has noted the recent pledge made by China to reduce carbon emissions was "not good enough."

China is by far the world's largest greenhouse emitter and reportedly accounts for twice as many emissions as the US, which is in second place as of 2020 data.

Chinese president Xi Jinping recently announced the country would attempt to be carbon-neutral by 2060, years after the EU, US and UK's goal of 2050.

Kerry has confirmed the US will be mounting international pressure on countries to work harder on their greenhouse emissions.

Both governments and private companies across the globe have committed to becoming fully carbon-neutral by 2050.

Both the UK and EU have made green energy central to their pandemic recovery schemes owing to the unsustainability of fossil fuels as green companies went from strength to strength throughout 2020.

Renewable energy is expected to take up a larger market share of analyst forecasts over the next decade as government and companies look to rapidly transition away from traditional fossil fuels.

Read more: Lockdown energy use "a glimpse into the future," says EnAppSys chief

There is expected to be a decent bounce-back for traditional fuels such as oil and gas, but greater phase-outs are expected going into the future.

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